Save  the  Women  and  Children 

WITH  THE 


[FRONT  VIEW. 


HEALTH COKSKT 

Patented  Sept.  8,  1868— Ante-Dated  Sept.  i.  1868. 
Mothers'  Corset  Pat'd  Feb.  2,  1869. 


MANUFACTURED  BY 

THOS.  W.  LOVE  &  CO, 

243  &  245  Hudson  Street, 


znt:ej"vv  -yopiii  oii^-. 


lEx  ICtfartH 

SEYMOUR  DURST 


r  —  ■  • 

•  AVETO 

oufter 


he  Wealth  Pof^set 


Is  made  for  healthy  women  and  for  sickly  women — 
For  the  rich  and  poor— 
For  the  stout  and  for  the  thin— 
For  the  tall  and  for  the  short — 
For  the  young  and  for  the  old ! 

Ladies  wearing  the  Health  Corset  can  endure  ten  times  the 
amount  of  fatigue ;  can  walk  ten  times  as  far ;  and  work  ten 
times  as  long ! 

Let  them  support  their  clothing  but  one  day  in  this  way.  and 
they  could  not  be  induced  to  go  without  them. 
A  single  day  or  a  single  walk  is  sufficient  test. 


THE  HEALTH  CORSET 

Is  the  invention  of  an  American  lady  in  Paris,  who  has  it  pat- 
ented and  brought  out  in  the  United  States  at  the  solicitations 
of  numerous  physicians  in  New  York  and  throughout  the 
country. 

The  Health  Corset  consists  of,  and  combines — 

1st.  An  Elegant  Corset— of  the  newest  and  most 
artistic  Parisian  styles. 

2d.  Shoulder  Braces— which  do  not  force  but  grad- 
ually tend  to  keep  the  form  erect  and  in  a  healthy  position. 

3d.  A  Skirt  Supporter— which  supports  all  the 
weight  of  clothing  a  lady  wears,  from  the  shoulders. 


We  propose  to  make  women  BETTER  ! 


We  intend  to  make  them  HAPPIER  ! 


We  are  sure  of  making  them  more  BEAU- 
TIFUL ! 


We  are  certain  of  making  them  more  AMI- 
ABLE, sweeter  tempered  and  AFFECTION- 
ATE! 


Because  we  are  determined  to  make  them 
HEALTHIER!  ! 


Corsets  have  always  been  worn— will  be  worn 
—and  should  be  worn. 


The  Health  Corsets 


Are  manufactured  of  different  material,  to  suit  the  wearer  and 
the  season. 

The  suspenders  of  the  Health  Corset,  which  form  the  shoulder 
braces,  crossing  over  the  shoulder  blades  and  keeping  them  in  a 
flat  and  proper  position,  traverse  the  shoulders  so  high  that  the 
articulation  of  the  shoulder  and  the  movement  of  every  muscle 
of  the  back,  sides  and  arms  are  entirely  free,  and  descending  in 
such  a  manner  under  the  arm  that  the  breast  is  not  compressed 
or  interfered  with.  The  Suspenders  are  so  hung  upon  lacets% 
and  being  inside  and  entirely  independent  of  the  corset,  every 
movement  of  the  body  is  free  and  natural. 

The  clothing  is  attached  to  the  corset  by  means  of  button-holeB 
or  loops  of  braid  or  tape  from  the  bands  of  the  skirts  and  but- 
toned on  to  the  corset,  the  lower  buttons  for  the  bands  of  drawers 
and  under  skirts,  the  upper  for  the  outside  skirts.  In  an  hour 
or  two  a  lady  can  adapt  all  her  clothing  to  the  skirt  supporter. 
Loops  of  braid  sewed  strongly  to  the  inside  of  the  skirt  band 
will  be  most  easily  adjusted,  and  can  be  made  in  a  few  minutes. 

The  suspenders  can  be  lengthened  or  shortened  without  remov- 
ing the  corset  or  dress,  thereby  carrying  the  clothing  well  upon 
the  shoulders,  or  be  lowered  to  wear  with  a  low-neck  dress. 
Suspenders  accompany  each  corset,  which  can  be  easily  washed 
and  replaced  as  often  as  desired. 

We  recommend  particulary  the  latest  Paris  cors££  of  scarlet  cloth 
being  soft,  flexible  and  most  artistic.  This  will  be  found  to  be  the 
greatest  comfort  to  ladies  of  a  delicate  constitution  or  not  of 
robust  health,  and  we  especially  commend  them  to  young  ladies 
and  misses. 


4 


We  have  a  specialty  in  school-girls'  corsets.  Every  principal 
of  young  ladies'  schools  should  see  that  the  young  and  tender 
girls  entrusted  to  their  care  should  not  fall  victims  to  the  common 
health-destroying  corset. 

Corsets  have  always  heen  worn,  will  always  be  worn,  and 
should  be  worn— to  support  the  clothing,  keeping  it  from  cutting 
in  over  the  hips  and  dragging  upon  the  back  and  abdomen  and 
to  support  the  breast. 

They  are  a  necessity  as  well  as  are  shoes,  but  no  one  is  so 
foolish  as  to  advocate  a  cramping,  pinching  shoe. 

A  corset,  like  a  well-fitting  shoe,  should  give  shapeliness  and 
grace  to  the  form  without  compressing  or  being  stiffened  like  a 
board. 

It  is  not  the  size,  but  the  faultless  form,  the  mntchless  shape  of 
the  Venus  de  Medici  and  of  Canova's  Venus,  that  make  them  the 
models  of  beauty  for  all  artists  of  all  lands,  and  even  modern 
artists  would  shrink  horrified  from  taking  the  most  beautiful 
woman  in  the  world  for  his  model  whose  body  is  one-half  severed: 
certainly  no  poet  will  take  such  a  one  for  his  ideal. 

Remember,  then,  it  is  shape,  not  size,  that  makes  a  beautiful 
form ;  and  remember  it  is  the  free  movement  of  the  whole  body 
that  gives  grace  to  the  carriage  of  the  body. 

The  woman  of  antiquity,  the  Egyptian,  Grecian  and  Roman, 
wore  their  clothing  suspended  from  tbe  shoulders,  and  only  the 
heathen  and  barbarous  wore  it  dragging  from  the  hips  and 
middle. 

EVERY  MAX  TO  THE  RESCUE!! 

Have  you  a  cross  wife  ?  cut  her  corset  strings  and  buy  Tier  a 

HEALTH  CORSET! 

Have  you  a  sickly  wile  ?  cut  Jier  corset  strings  and  buy  her  a 

HEALTH  CORSET! 

Have  you  a  nervous,  dyspeptic  wife  ?  cut  her  corset  strings  and 
buy  her  a  health  corset  ! 


5 


Have  you  a  melancholy  wife  ?  cut  her  corset  strings  and  buy 
her  a  health  corset  ! 

Have  you  a  hysterical  wife  ?  cut  her  corset  strings  and  buy  her 

a  HEALTH  CORSET! 

Have  you  a  healthy  and  a  good  wife  ?   surely  she  deserves  a 

HEALTH  CORSET  ! 

Have  you  daughters  ?  see  that  they  wear  the  health  corset 
before  their  health  is  broken  or  lost. 

Young  men  have  as  much  right  to  know  if  the  ladies  they  wish 
to  marry  are  unfit  to  become  their  wives  by  tight  lacing,  as  young 
iadies  have  to  know  if  young  men  are  unfit  to  become  their 
husbands  by  the  use  of  drink ! 

Y  OUNG  LADIES :  if  you  would  be  beautiful — if  you  would  be 
of  graceful  form  and  manner— of  clear  complexion,  with  bright 
eyes  and  happy  smiling  faces— if  you  hope  to  win  a  good,  sensi- 
ble, noble-minded  husband,  and  make  him  a  good  and  happy  wife 
— wear  no  more  of  those  ungraceful  and  cruel  corsets,  but  be  ye 
transformed  by  wearing  the  elegant,  the  comfortable,  the  beautiful 
the  graceful 

HEALTH  CORSET, 

and  be  sure  to  have  your  dresses  fitted  over  it. 

MOTHERS,  who  nurse  and  bend  over  your  little  ones,  if  you 
would  be  strengthened  and  comforted  wear  the 

HEALTH  CORSET, 

It  is  hailed  by  all  physicians  as  the  long-desired  remedy,  for 
they  know  too  well  the  fearful  result  to  women  of  dragging  from 
5  to  20  pounds  weight  from  the  hips.  ^ 

Read  the  testimony  of  Mrs.  Lozier.*  founder  of  the  New  York 


See  her  life  in  the  recently  published  illustrated  Lives  of  Eminent  Women. 


Medical  College  for  Women,  whose  testimony  is  second  to  no 
other  physician  or  woman,  and  her  long  years  of  close  study  of 
anatomy  and  surgery,  as  well  as  medicine,  and  her  immense  prac- 
tice and  success  make  her  testimony  indisputable  ! 

361  West  34th  Street. 

New  York,  Oct.  1868. 

"  The  sufferings  of  women  by  weakness,  peculiar  to  their  sex, 
are  increasing  at  the  present  day  with  such  alarming  fatality,  that 
I  hail  with  joy,  any  means  that  may  tend  to  cure,  alleviate,  or 
prevent  them. 

I  am  convinced  that  the  greater  part  of  her  ailments  whether 
betrayed  in  the  head,  back  or  limbs,  arises  from  uterine  diseases, 
of  one  kind  or  other ;  and  these  are  usually  superinduced,  and 
always  aggravated  by  pressure,  or  weight  of  dress,  upon  the  spine, 
loins,  and  abdomen — causing  obstruction  of  the  venous  circulation 
and  displacement  of  the  Pelvic  viscera.  The  only  way  to  avoid 
this  is  to  suspend  all  the  clothing  from  the  shoulders  !  By  im- 
proper dressing  alone  how  many  women  drag  not  only  them- 
selves but  their  offspring  to  imbecility  and  untimely  graves. 
During  25  years  of  practice  I  have  seen  constantly  these  sad 
results,  and  have  never  ceased  to  enjoin  the  necessity  of  proper 
dressing  upon  my  patients. 

I  have  carefully  examined  and  tested  the  recently  invented 
health  corsex,  and  am  convinced  of  its  merits,  and  believe  it 
to  be  all  it  claims — a  comfort  and  blessing — relieving  and  prevent- 
ing female  weaknesses ;  and.  as  I  count  the  invention  of  any 
means  of  relief  to  this  universal  and  continual  necessity  among  old 
and  young  a  most  benevolent  and  laudable  work,  I  very  heartily 
commend  it  to  the  public. 

Mits.  Clemexce  S.  Lozier,  M.  D.. 

Bean  of  the  N.  Y.  Med.  Coll.  for  Women,.'1'' 


7 


Madam  Hahnemann,  the  wife  of  the  illustrious  founder  of 
the  system  of  Homoeopathy,  herself  a  physician  in  Paris,  said  to 
the  inventor  of  the  health  corset  :  •  •  I  most  heartily  approve 
of  your  system — it  meets  the  great  necessity.  I  could  not  support 
my  clothing  for  a  single  day  unless  it  were  properly  supended 
from  my  shoulders." 

One  of  the  most  learned  and  eminent  writers  of  the  day,  says — 
"Each  century  is  characterized  by  its  great  malady  *  *  *  * 
the  nineteenth  is  stricken  at  the  two  extremities  of  nervous  life— 
the  intellect  and  the  affection — as  shown  in  the  man  by  the  ener- 
vated, vacillating,  paralytic  brain — in  the  woman,  by  diseases 
peculiar  to  her  sex.  The  punishment  is  this :  the  suffering  woman 
will  bring  forth  but  a  sickly  infant,  who,  if  he  lives,  will  always 
seek  to  counteract  his  natural  enervation  by  a  fatal  relief  in  alco- 
holic and  narcotic  stimulants." 

This  profound  writer  suggests  u  Death  for  the  remedy  and 
radical  cure !  We  propose  another  and  less  disagreeable  remedy, 
namely :  the  Health  Corset  ! 

Bead  this  in  your  families,  and  in  your  schools,  and  preach  its 
principles  from  your  pulpits !  and  if  there  is  a  woman  in  the 
world  that  you  love,  give  her  a  copy  or  buy  her  a  Health 
Corset. 

Of  far  greater  importance  is  the  question  of  woman's  health 
than  of  her  right  to  vote  ! 

Men  may  legislate  for  the  future  generation,  but  women  must 
Bret  produce  the  children  that  must  make  up  the  generation; 
then  we  should  look  well  to  it  in  all  seriousness,  in  all  wisdom,  in 
all  righteousness,  that  they  give  not  to  our  country  and  our  race 
pigmies,  drawfs,  consumptives  and  imbeciles !  and  that  too  by 
their  own  unkind,  cruel,  barbarous,  wicked  treatment  of  them- 
selves and  their  offspring ! 

It  is  a  natural  law  that  whenever  their  exists  a  necessity,  there 
also  exists  the  means  of  meeting  it,  though  unhappily  it  may  be 
hidden  or  undiscovered  for  a  time. 


8 


And  there  is  not  among  people  of  the  highest  civilization— 
wherein  America  ranks  foremost— a  more  serious  or  grave  neces- 
sity than  the  relief  of  women  under  the  weaknesses  and  diseases 
peculiar  to  their  sex — peculiar  to  the  nineteenth  century — and  in  a 
great  degree  peculiar  to  America — and  also  peculiar  alike  to  the 
maiden  and  matron. 

J ames  Parton,  says  in  his  recent  great  work,  "Let  all  women 
for  the  next  century  but  wear  such  restraining  clothes  as  are 
now  usual,  and  it  is  doubtful  if  the  race  could  ever  recover  from 
the  effects." 

What  sufferings — physical,  mental,  social,  moral  and  religious 
arise  from  the  weakly  mother  and  her  sickly  children ! 

What  a  lamentable  fact  that  the  happiness  of  many  a  family  is 
disturbed  and  often  destroyed  by  the  improper  and  unhealthy 
dressing  of  the  wife  or  mother ! 

Headaches,  nervousness,  dyspepsia,  palpitations  of  the  heart, 
sideaehes,  backaches,  cold  feet,  dizziness,  depression  of  spirits, 
"blues,"  and  insanity  itself  are  often  but  the  result  of  corset 
strings,  whalebone  and  petticoats ! 

Many  a  good  woman  goes  sorrowing  and  wearily  about  her 
domestic  duties,  dragging  out  her  miserable  cheerless  days,  ar.d 
tired  of  life  itself,  vainly  seeking  help  from  above— simply  be- 
cause her  circulation  upon  which  depends  the  free  action  of  the 
heart — which  carries  strength  to  the  limbs,  clearness  to  the  eye 
and  light  to  the  brain,  is  so  impeded  by  ligatures  around  her  body 
and  weight  upon  her  back  and  abdomen  that  she  is  really  insensi- 
ble except  to  suffering ! 

No  wonder  she  looks  upon  the  prospects  of  children  with  dread 
and  horror,  knowing  well  her  incapability  of  fulfiling  that  most 
beautiful  and  glorious  woman's  mission,  motherhood ! 

SUSPEND  YOUR  CLOTHING 

— AND — 

SUSPEND   YOUR  DOCTOR! 

See  to  it,  husbands,  who  have  suffering  wives,  that  your 
doctor  understands  their  case. 


9 


Alas!  how  many  are  doctored  into  their  graves — when  all 
that  they  need  is  relief  from  the  superabundant  weight  of  clothing 
suspended  from  their  waists ! 

out  upon  IGNORANT  doctors: 

They  should  be  put  in  straight-jackets,  every  one  of  them ! 
It  is  impossible  for  the  mind  to  remain  long  in  a  healtby, 
cheerful  condition,  when  the  body  is  in  a  morbid  state. 

In  vain  does  the  physician  prescribe  except  to  force  into  action 
for  a  short  time  the  sadly  weakened  functions,  or  to  stimulate 
the  inert  and  sluggish  powers  into  an  activity  that  is  impossible 
to  last! 

Not  only  headaches  and  backacheo,  but  how  many  heartaches 
arise  solely  from  a  want  of  proper  circulation. 

.  Death  by  strangulation  wDl  take  place  by  compressing  the 
waist  as  well  as  at  the  neck,  and  although  it  is  slower  it  is  more 
deliberate  suicide. 

Free  circulation  of  the  blood  is  the  primary  principle  of  life  ! 

The  larger  veins  in  the  human  body  lie  very  near  the  surface, 
and  any  undue  pressure  upon  them  immediately  forces  the  blood 
into  the  smaller  and  interior  veins  where,  being  gorged,  congestion 
and  inflammation  ensue,  and  aggravate  numerous  and  fatal  results. 

Serious  dissases  and  even  death  have  resulted  from  wearing 
tight  garters  !  and  every  lady  knows  how  uncomfortable  a  tight 
sleeve-holder  is,  and  that,  if  very  tight,  it  will  render  the  arm 
swollen,  black  and  insensible. 

Pressure  upon  the  abdomen  is  equally  pernicious  as  tight  lacing. 

The  intestines  are  forced  from  their  natural  position,  and.  as  in 
the  human  body  there  can  be  no  vacuum,  the  diaphragm  is  dragged 
down,  and  then,  as  the  chest  organs  must  follow,  the  lung's  sink, 
and  consumption  begins. 

And  remember  that  though  there  is  less  sensibility,  there  is 
greater  susceptibility  in  the  interior  organs. 


10 


Think  then  of  the  great  and  fatal  injury  done  by  binding  a 
human  being  about  the  middle,  and  checking  the  entire  circula- 
tion of  the  body. 

Whenever  a  woman,  with  that  abomination  of  beauty,  a  snakey 
waist,  tells  you  she  is  well — do  not  believe  it !  for  it  cannot  be ! 
True,  she  may  be  entirely  insensible  to  the  fact,  or  she  may  be  a 
fool,  or  not  intelligent  enough  to  know  whether  she  is  sick  or 
well — but  well,  slie  cannot  be. 

Missionaries  portray,  and  ministers  preach  against  the  barbar- 
ous cruelty  of  the  benighted  heathen  who  strap  and  bind  their 
limbs  or  extremities  until  they  become  withered,  misshapen 
and  useless;  while,  at  least,  one-half  the  women — mothers, 
wives  and  daughters,  born  and  bred  under  the  light  and  influence 
of  education,  reform  and  religion,  here  in  America  are  so  begirt 
and  weighed  down  about  the  tenderest  part  of  their  bodies  that 
their  limbs  are  paralyzed,  the  functions  of  the  internal  organs 
impeded,  the  brain  inactive,  and  too  often  the  poor  victim  to  folly, 
sinks  pining  and  languishing  into  the  grave !  And  are  not  the  hea- 
then, who  do  these  things  for  conscience  sake,  less  culpable  than  the 
educated,  enlightened,  intelligent  woman,  who  does  this  to  gratify 
the  most  perverted,  unnatural,  ungraceful,  ugiy  and  repulsive 
taste  that  ever  a  foolish  fashion  or  a  vain  senseless  woman  con- 
ceived !  We  challenge  all  heathendom  to  equal  this  sin  of  Christ- 
endom !  And  where  is  the  missionary  or  minister  who  dare  tell 
the  women  of  his  congregation  that  the  joy  of  a  sweet  temper  is 
lost — the  clearness  of  Faith  obscured,  and  the  presence  of  Hope 
hidden  by  ligatures  about  their  waists ! 

Let  them  speak  out  and  save  the  next  generation,  save  the 
nation  and  save  the  world !  Let  husbands  and  fathers,  at  least, 
look  well  to  this  evil  in  their  homes. 

In  no  country  as  in  America  is  this  barbarous  practice  carried 
to  such  an  extent.  The  fine  and  elegant  shape  of  the  Parisian 
lady  is  the  result  of  well  made  and  gracefully  fitting  corsets  and 
dress — not  of  a  wall  of  whalebone,  iron  clamps  and  hempen 
cords. 


11 


A  lady  writer  who  has  travelled  throughout  Europe  and 
America,  visiting  educational,  benevolent,  and  reformatory  in- 
stitutions, says  :  "  One  of  the  saddest  sights  that  I  have  seen  in 
America,  whether  in  hospital  or  prison,  has  been  to  see  in 
many  of  the  first  schools  for  young  ladies,  young  and  tender  girls, 
so  laced  and  stiffened  up  with  corsets  that  they  could  neither  think 
clearly  nor  act  naturally,  and  I  could  scarcely  forbear  telling  the 
learned  professors  who  were  trying  to  beat  into  their  dull  and 
aching  heads,  and  stupid  brains  some  occult  problem,  that  he 
had  far  better  let  science  alone  and  turn  his  attention  to  the 
art  of  dressing  his  pupils  healthfully — or  at  least  give  them  some 
practical  lessons  in  physiology,  begiuning  by  clipping  their 
corset  strings,  and  putting  straps  to  their  petticoats. " 

Happily  now  the'  Fashion  permits  the  waist  to  be  in  the  right 
and  natural  place,  neither  crowded  down  below  the  hips  nor 
carried  up  to  the  arm-pits. 

Fashion  should  not  be  disregarded  by  any  means,  but  should 
always  be  made  subservient  to  common  sense,  nature,  com- 
fort and  beauty  ! 

The  physician  to  the  Empress  Eugenie,  in  conversing  with  the 
inventor  of  the  Hkai»th  Corset  upon  its  merits  and  the  ne- 
cessity of  some  means  of  relief  for  woman,  remarked,  that  upon 
several  occasions,  when  he  had  been  forced  to  dress  in  great 
haste,  he  had  omitted  his  suspenders,  but  that  even  the  slight 
weight  of  pantaloons,  and  the  necessary  tightening  of  the  waist- 
band, soon  became  insupportable,  and  made  him,  though  a  strong 
man,  feel  worn  out  and  quite  sick,  and  for  a  fragile,  delicate  wo- 
man with  her  natural  weakness,  to  carry  all  her  clothes  unsup- 
ported from  the  shoulders,  was  suicidal  to  herself  and  murder- 
ous to  her  offspring ! " 

And,  apropos — would  it  not  be  well  for  wives  and  mothers 
who  have  nervous,  ill-tempered,  head-aching  husbUhds  or  sons, 
to  look  well  to  it  that  they  wear  suspenders ;  or,  perhaps,  boots 
are  too  light :  remembering  that  impeded  circulation,  like  a 
deranged  stomach,  not  only  causes  cold  feet,  but  it  causes  cold 
heart,  also! 


12 


Then  let  each  bind  the  other  with  all  that  is  strong  in  love 
and  gentle  in  care,  but  beware  of  ligatures  of  hemp  or  silk  ! 

It  may  be  perchance  that  where  chronic  ill-nature  reigns,  the 
only  cause  is  a  tightening  of— purse  strings!  Now,  for  shame, 
this  should  not  be— until,  at  least,  you  have  purchased  the 

HEALTH  CORSET. 

We  have  a  special  corset  adapted  to  married  ladies  in  a  delicate 
condition,  giving  the  greatest  comfort  and  relief.  They  have 
only  to  ask  for  Mothers'  Corsets. 

Suspend  your  clothing,  ladies,  or  you  will  soon  suspend  all 
claim  to  health,  beauty  and  happiness,  and  may  suspend  life 
itself.   And  the  only  way  possible  is,  by  wearing  the 

HEALTH  CORSET. 


Address  for  Circulars  and  Orders, 

HEALTH  GORSET  CO., 

(Care  Thos.  W.  Love  &  Co.) 
JVos.  243  &  245  Hudson  Street. 

New  York  City. 


Health  Corset. 


